


Thunderstorm

by Libstar



Category: Holby City
Genre: F/F, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-20 01:53:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9470225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Libstar/pseuds/Libstar
Summary: Just a little one shot I wrote from the prompt Thunderstorm.





	

Bernie didn’t know what had woken her at first, just knew that one minute she had been happily and peacefully asleep and the next she had been wide awake. If it had been a nightmare she would know about it, she would be sweating, shaking and Serena would no doubt be looking down on her with nothing but concern, but Serena is still sleeping soundly beside her, the house is quiet around them.

It’s raining heavily outside but it was when they went to bed and there is no reason why just the rain should wake her up. She lies silently for a moment, taking stock of her body, of her surroundings, it’s rare that she wake up without reason but it also isn’t uncommon that the sound of Jason closing the bathroom door in the night be enough to rouse her, a throwback from her time in the army and Serena tells her, probably from her time as the mother of young children.

She’s just drifting off to sleep when the flash lights up the room and she has already tensed herself in preparation for the thunder that follows, swift and loud, rattling the windows slightly in its intensity. She’s been scared of thunder for as long as she can remember, her time in the army, her PTSD, only making it worse and she flinches when a second flash lights up the room short minutes later, the boom of thunder almost instantly following.

She knows, really, that she is safe, that she’s home, that Serena is sleeping soundly and safely behind her, but it doesn’t stop the flash backs that the noise brings. She tries everything she knows to ground herself, to keep herself in the moment, in the world around her. She forces herself to be aware of the room around the bed, of the way the sheets feel against her over warm skin, the sound of Serena’s slow, even breaths. She tries her match her own breaths to the brunettes, pushes her hand into her diaphragm the way Serena would if she was awake and forces herself to breathe into the weight of it, to feel it move.

The next clap of thunder comes almost simultaneously with the flash of light and it is so loud that she jumps, a squeak breaking from her throat. Her heart is pounding, her breathing erratic, her eyes screwed shut, she’d been beginning to calm but now she is back to square one and with the storm so close she knows that it is going to be impossible to calm herself down. She is vaguely aware of Serena moving beside her but she doesn’t open her eyes to see if she is awake or just shifting in her sleep, not that she knows how anyone could sleep through the racket going on outside the windows, the rain is heavier now too and being blown into the side of the house with some force, the noise is constant and unbearable.

The heat of Serena’s body pressing against her side eats through the white noise somewhat and then her hand is covered by the brunettes, soft and warm and strong.

“You’re ok,” she murmurs into her ear, her words still slurred with the remnants of sleep, “We’re ok, you’re safe, I’ve got you.”

Bernie focuses on all of the places they touch, on the weight of Serena’s hand on her own, on the play of her breath across her cheek as she continues her litany of reassurances, the sound outside is still pressing in but she pushes it away focusing on Serena, the only thing, the only person, which has ever been so good at pulling her through.

By the time she is feeling calm enough to open her eyes the storm has passed over them and is moving slowly away. She turns her head to find Serena’s eyes in the half light and smiles.

“Ok?” the other woman asks and Bernie leans forwards to kiss her lightly, she will never tire of how beautiful this woman can look even rudely awakened and still a little sleepy.

“I am now, thank you Serena, for always knowing exactly what I need, I don’t know how I’d cope if it weren’t for you.”

“And you never need to know, I’m not going anywhere Bernie, now come on, back off to sleep, neither of us need to be up for work tomorrow and I expect a lie in.” Bernie rolls onto her side, always the big spoon, and curls herself around Serena’s body, stroking light fingers over her side and hip until the brunettes breathing evens out in sleep. Bernie lets herself listen for a while; the storm is far enough away now that she can barely hear the thunder, taking the heaviest of the rain with it so she can hear the sounds of the house around them, Serena’s gentle breathing, Jason’s light snores in the next room, the boiler clunking and grinding, preparing to come on and heat the house for them getting up and she realises that these things, which would have grated on her in the past, were now the sounds which she associates with being home, being safe.

 


End file.
